1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera cradle apparatus which can be connected to a camera and an external terminal, and a system for the apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a camera cradle apparatus has been devised to facilitate connection between a camera and devices such as a personal computer, printer, charger, and AC adapter. This camera cradle apparatus is designed such that the above devices are connected to the apparatus through cables, and the camera can be connected to the devices by simply being mounted on the apparatus.
There has been provided a method of equipping a camera cradle apparatus with a storage function and reading out images from a camera. There has also been provided a method like a surveillance camera method of equipping a camera cradle apparatus with a pan/tilt function and capturing images from a camera under control through a network.
In addition, a method is disclosed in which when a digital camera is mounted on a cradle, the operation mode of the camera is automatically changed to the USB mode (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-218300 (paragraph number 0068, FIG. 1)).
According to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-218300, however, only a power supply switch, a cradle connector, and the like are mounted on the cradle side, but there is provided no control means for setting the operation mode of a digital camera. For this reason, such a control means needs to be provided on the digital camera side, resulting in an increase in the manufacturing cost of the digital camera.
According to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-218300, when the digital camera is mounted on the cradle or the power supply of the camera is turned on by turning on the power supply switch on the cradle side, a communication terminal is automatically connected to perform USB communication with the personal computer. However, since connection through a network such as the Internet is controlled on the personal computer side, the cradle can be connected to the network even if the cradle is not intended to be connected to the network.